Improvement in sighting guns



r aa zasa E. A. STEVENS.

Sight for Ordnance.

Patented Jan 6 1863.

ifim @556 N. PETERS. PHOTO-LVTHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D c.

UNiTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN A. STEVENS, or noBoKEN, NEW JERSEY.

-IM PROVEME NT I'N SIGHTING GUNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,365, dated January 6, 1863.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN A. STEVENS, of

HobOken, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sighting and \Vorking Ordnance; and I do hereby declare the fol-- lowing to be a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this' specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a gun-boat,

partly in section.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the same. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding-parts in both views. I

My present improvements consist in arranging anyor all the guns of a war-vessel so that they can be pointed to strike the same object,

by means of graduated index-plates, by men standingbelow the deck above which the guns are placed, andso that they can be pointed toward any object desired by changing their position or the courseof the vessel, as hereinaf-. ter explained.

My improvements further consist in the use of telescopes of peculiar construction, by means of which, either' with or without graduated index-plates, cannon situated above the shot-proof deck may be accurately sighted by a gunner standing below. the said deck. in order to bring the guns to bear, the course of the vessel may be changed by the helm when under headway,or, in case a double propellingpower (such as two screws) be used, by changing her position without making headway, or while making but little headway, by backing one screw and moving the other ahead. The men who trainthe guns, being under the gundeck, would be protected either by the armor convenient. All the guns having been thus set by the index-plate to the angle ordered by the commander, the order would be given to fire at tlie'instant when the vessel had turned,

soas to make them bear inthe right direction, I

and all the guns could be thus fired at thesame instant or successivelyat the same object by electricity or otherwise; or the guns may all be pointed permanently parallel to the'keel, or in any direction, and aimed at any point by the man at the helm, as described. By means of two telescopes or other glasses going through v the sh ot-proof deck, and having two prisms or mirrors, so as to throw the objectdown and and arranged with a grad;

then horizontally, uated index-plate, the position of the enemy could be accurately ascertained from below theshot-proof deck. .The angle of the enemy, as shown by the glass, with the line between these two glasses, and the length of said line being known, the distance of the enemy and the bearing of each gun in order to hit him are v a matter of simple calculation, and maybe tabulated beforehand; or these glasses may be under orover or at the side of the guns themselves, so that the guns may be pointed exaccording to the index-plate on the actly,

The said glasses glass, by a man below deck.

are so arranged that if shot away they may be easily replaced.

To enable others skilled in the art to fully understand and use my said invention, I will proceed to describe the accompanying drawings, which illustrate two difi'erent ways of carrying it into effect.

A represents the hull of the vessel, and B a shot-proof deck of any suitable construction.

0 U are cannon mounted upon carriages D D, which are adapted to be rotated in horizontal planes by means of pintles E E.

F F are telescopes oi peculiar construction, formed with horizontal ends and a central portion, which passes vertically through the shot-proof deck B and is adapted to turn therein. By means of prisms or mirrors placed at the angles ff of the telescope, the rays are projected downward and then horizontally, so that any external object toward curately the directions in which'the telescopes and guns point.

Similar telescopes may be applied directly to the gun-carriage, and by this means the guns may be sighted separately from below deck without the use of graduated index-plates' Having described in separate applications various methods of applying the recoil and counter-recoil springs and devices for trainmg, a specific descriptionof the same is not required here. These and other necessary parts not herein described may be constructed and arranged in any suitable manner.

I I (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2) are two screw-propellers, by means of which the vesselmay be propelled and turned in any manner desired.

The following is what I claimas new in the above-described invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

as shown at F in Fig. 1,

elevating, cleaning, and loading the guns,

3. A telescope, F f, constructed substan-' tially as described, in combination with'a revolving gun-carriage, for the objects specified. 4. The use of two telescopes, constructed substantially as described, for observing from within or below a protected structure the dispose specified.

. E. A. STEVENS.

I Witnesses:

' A. L. HoLLEY,

EDM. F. BROWN.

tance and position of an object, for the pur- 

